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Topic: Stick Men 2014 tour (Read 2084 times)

Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, and Markus Reuter (whoaaaa!!) Playing together in San Francisco on January 23. Must check this out. This is a rare chance to see these masters in person. Years ago when I went to see Karn, Torn and Bozzio as Polytown it was an amazing experience. This looks to be the same.

Saw this show last night in San Francisco. Amazing!!! Tony Levin is just insanely good on Chapman Stick. Pat Mastelotto is a prog rock powerhouse on drums. And Markus Reuter totally ripped on his Touch guitar, going from Fripp manic soloing to pastoral ambient seamlessly.

I was very disappointed when I met Levin and Reuter post show. They mingled with the audience and signed CD's willingly, so it seemed. Reuter was kind of standoffish and didn't seem too impressed when I mentioned his ambient projects with Ian Boddy, Ramp, etc and his Hypnos album. Levin stood behind a counter meeting fans and signing CD's. He's Mr. Personality on stage but was cold as a fish, at least to me. When I asked him to sign my Peter Gabriel Plays Live CD and told him I think it's one of the best live albums ever recorded, he said quite rudely, "I don't even know what this is.". Even though there was a photo of him on the booklet. Then I asked how old he was when it was recorded ('83) and he asked when Plays Live was released (!?). Am I missing something here? He seemed offended or something. He finally said he was 35 in '83. Hate to say it, but if you are too self important to talk to fans then why bother signing CD's. I've also seen him state in some recent interviews that he's "not that good". False modesty stinks.

That is always the risk in making personal contact with one's music heroes. I've been in hand-shaking proximity of Fripp, Eno, and Harold Budd at different concert/speaking engagements and have always begged off from trying to make contact at the last moment. With the crush of the crowd trying to get access to them and knowing that I have about 5 seconds to tell them "it's a pleasure to meet you ...", there's always the possibility that the chaos of the whole scene may make them a little uneasy and that I might not get the response I was hoping for. I think Robert Fripp was probably just as inaccessible as Levin in the many times I saw him perform. For what it's worth, the time I saw Eno speak he was extremely engaging with the crowd afterwards and treated each person who shook his hand like they had something important to say to him. Makes a big difference on the impression they leave, particularly supporting their work at the register!

Eloquently stated Nels. Thanks for the comment. I think some famous musicians are so used to people fawning all over them that they secretly dread another over-eager gushing fan who they just won't know what to say to. Some, as in Levin, I think put on charm in front of an audience because it's part of the show. Put them behind a table afterwards to meet fans and all their insecurities rear their ugly head.